A Rainy Morning
The creatures that slime their way
Across their allotment of this globe
Those that row themselves on the oars
Of their hundred churning legs
Crawlies with antennae
Or pilots whose wings make
Tiny electric screams
The furry sort smaller than a clutch purse
Descending the refuge of the trees
Their teeth chisel the tough fabric
Of so-called bear-proof bags
Perhaps in frustration
Or perhaps it is proprietary
They leave behind the strong scent of urine
The foxes - lords of the farm lanes
The deer - timid debutantes at the dance
Groundhogs plump as grocery bags
Moose all gangly like lank teenagers
Tall enough to dunk baskets without leaping
Testing the highway to escape the woods
Teeming with mosquitoes thick as fog
Soaring turkey vultures with heads
As red as guts plucked from a carcass
Eagles golden - eagles bald
Falcons with wings like long blades
Hawks sharpening their talons on the sky
Birds that rattle every dawn
With chipperness
Or draw curves on the air with their whistling
Hidden like a box of crayons
Flung petulantly into the foliage
Their colours flashing as brief as spring
I am sheltering from the rain for this hour
Waiting so that I might roll up my sodden tent
And resume the ride
I am in my den like the other creatures
Huddled somewhere under trees or leaves
Or rocks or clumps of soil or anywhere
That the dripping clouds can’t drown us
Delightful imagery! I hope the rain didn’t last too long …